I have sent a personal letter of thanks to the wonderful paramedics, who through their dedication, hard work and refusal to give up, saved my husband’s life. However I have not been able to thank the young man who ripped off his shirt to cradle my husbands bleeding head nor the young woman who rang the ambulance and stayed with me, relaying instructions from the triple zero emergency operator.

There was also another wonderful young woman who performed CPR that I would like to thank. There were other people there who assisted and must be wondering what happened to my husband, as he looked in such a terrible state.

I would like to report that, thanks to your assistance, my husband is alive, well and getting a defibrillator fitted, so an incident like this does not happen again. My children and I would like to thank you for helping to save his life. Untold Blessings to you all.

I can't let the Craig Jory letter in The Border Mail (‘Private schools are teacher’s pet for Liberals’, May 29) go unanswered as there were so many false statements that need correcting.

Firstly the federal government is not slashing education funding, they are spending record amounts. What they are not doing is spending the ridiculous unfunded amounts pledged by the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd governments.

The federal government's primary funding target is private schools and the state governments is government schools. If you look at the state governments’ expenditure on education you will see they spend vastly larger sums on government schools than private schools.

The combined funding by state and Commonwealth governments of students in government schools is greater than on students in private schools, so for every extra student who goes to a private school there is a cost saving to taxpayers.

I'm not a teacher and it is a long time since I was in school, but from what I see throwing money at education does not seem to be resulting in better outcomes. Our education levels seem to be declining, while record amounts is spent on education. I acknowledge the hard work and dedication spent by most teachers, but unfortunately there is a lack of consensus on the many solutions debated.

It came as no surprise to hear the negative take from business representatives on the decision to raise Australia’s minimum wage.

When it comes to the top end of town getting incentives and tax cuts, we always hear that it is part of “trickle down” economics, and we are supposed to believe that by putting more money in the pockets of the rich, little crumbs will fall to the little people.

But when it comes to putting a bit more in the pockets of the poor, those who speak on behalf of business say nothing of the possibility of “trickle up” economics. Surely it stands to reason that by putting more money in the pockets of the poor and middle classes, by giving them an extra $20 or $50 to spend a week, all businesses will benefit. Funny we never hear that sort of “spin”.